1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to design and production of implants. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to techniques for computer-designed, preformed implants via (i) production of precise molds for direct manufacture of the desired implant; (ii) production of “a mold of a mold” from which a new mold may be formed and used to manufacture the desired implant; (iii) direct production of the desired implant; and/or (iv) delivery of data files representing any of the foregoing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The term cranioplasty refers to the surgical correction of a skull defect. These large defects of the human skull may be created or caused by injury, surgical intervention for tumor removal, congenital abnormality or disease. Many times a repair and recontouring of a defect of this type will involve either autogenous (body tissue) or alloplastic (man-made) materials, but in many cases of large defects there is not enough autogenous material to use for repair. Surgeons in the fields of neurosurgery, oral surgery and plastic surgery repair and recontour these defects using alloplastic materials such as polyethylene, polymethylmethacrylate, tantalum, cobalt-chrome, hydroxyapatite, titanium, and methylmethacrylate (bead or solid form). Currently, most surgeons fixing these defects do so by forming the material at the time of surgery with the patient's anatomy exposed. The current method exposes the patient to longer surgery and often leaves a less than desirable appearance, especially with large defects. Issues of symmetry between the right and left sides of the head and reconstruction of a bilateral defect are difficult to consider when forming the implant during surgery.